Colonizing Space

If governments were accepting applications for the first manned trip to mars, would you submit one? Would you join a group of your fellow humans aboard a shuttle to start colonization efforts on a barren, nearly inhospitable planet thousands of miles away from everything you’ve ever known? The questions about how Mars would be colonized don’t stop at “Would I even go?”. Mashable recently published an article on Elon Musk, founder of the commercial spaceflight program SpaceX, and some of his ideas for starting a human colony on Mars. Musk has plans for how to travel to and from the planet using an advanced spaceship that lands and takes off completely vertically, calculations on how much of a nation’s GDP will be necessary to fund the program, and estimates that 100,000 people could be willing to make the journey of the 8 billion who will populate earth by the time his project is ready for launch.However, even with plans as comprehensive as these, there are still a great many details to work out. How will the colonists stay entertained? What kind of food will they eat? Will they be able to contact their friends and family on earth or will their mission be top secret? How will all of these questions be answered? With a MindSumo Challenge of course!Right now our solvers have the opportunity to suggest methods for the colonization of Mars. We want to hear all your best ideas on how to create a sustainable colony with a happy, healthy and productive populace. So whether you want to terraform the planet to create an atmosphere similar to Earth’s or start an underground society while exploring Martian caverns, blast off with this new challenge today!